Of Cards And Being Swept Off Ones Feet
by Arianla
Summary: My reattempt at CCS fanfiction! Sakura inherits the cards on her 15th birthday. Her magical powers aren't too easy to keep a secret when she's employed as a maid in Eriol and Syaoran's castle.
1. Origins

I'm trying out a fanfiction that has magic in it. I've recently returned to my CCS obsession! So please read and I love to read what you think of my chapter! I mean it's alright to read reviews that go: update soon! I love it! That kind of thing but I'm really looking for those experienced readers/writers that can help me improve! So please do read and review! Reviews fuel us ff writers! Thank you for reading my first chapter!

**The reattempt at a CCS fanfiction. **

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The scent of burnt skin and blood caressed the air. A cloaked man hobbled feebly along the broken twigs that once contributed to the foundation of a hut. The cry was sharp, feeble and innocent. Desperately, he pushed the remains of the nursemaid away to reveal a wailing child wrapped in swaddling clothes. Waving his hand over the child's face, the child immediately fell asleep.

"Don't move old man." A clear sharp voice stopped him. He raised weary eyes to the towering soldier's. A sharp bloodied sword pressed against his throat, the old man could only raise his arms in clear surrender. "I just want to save this child."

The soldier pressed his sword deeper into his neck, "Pick the child up, though I would have killed it, seeing that you're going to have a long road ahead of you."

Slowly and meaningfully he picked up the child up gently and with a loud cry he shoved the soldier aside! With his gnarled hands he quickly drew symbols in the air but the soldier seeing what he was doing quickly recovered and swung his sword clumsily at the symbols, causing them to disintegrate.

Cursing his foul luck, the man started to run. The soldier ran after him, swinging the sword clumsily, never reaching the top part of his cloak. The attacks barely grazed his cloak. 'Just a little bit more.' he thought, picking up the hem of the cloak to run faster. 'Finally.' Muttering an incantation, he summoned a golden staff which had what looked like a sun and moon for the top joined to a long golden pole. Muttering yet another incantation, his staff turned into a sword, and he swung it at the soldier chasing.

With a bright flash of light, the soldier's head was lopped off easily. However the light itself drew attention from his comrades. Shouts of anger, inquiries and fear could be heard a little too close to where the man was standing. In a swirl of blue wisps, his sword finally turned back into the staff. Drawing a circle around him he commanded "TIME. BRING ME TO THE FUTURE!" And the light enveloped him.

-

'Thank God I made it.'With a dreadful feeling crawling up on him, he walked briskly down the road which he had teleported himself to. Shortly after, he reached a humble looking tavern. Sounds of girls laughing and men shouting with the scraping of furniture could be heard from where he stood. Quickly he made his way to the front door and knocked thrice sharply.

"Whaddaya want OLD MAN." A heavily bearded man with a scantily dressed woman clinging to him asked gruffly, taking another swig from an empty glass bottle.

"I'm looking for Johnny." The cloaked man then said icily. "Move you drunkard." Slightly stunned, the drunkard indeed pulled him and his woman away, yelling out Johnny's name.

Holding the bundle close to his heart, he walked across the room. Men and women stared at him rudely while casually going back to their activities. His presence had cause a pause in the atmosphere but only briefly. The men went back to their drunken activities while the women returned to their lustful side of the men. He tried not the flinch as one woman with heavy make up came up to him whispering in a cacklish voice of bed pleasures and blissful nights at her side. Thankfully she was pulled away by another man who planted a slobbery kiss right over her mouth. He watched half amused as the woman tried to turn her moan of disgust into one of pleasure.

Finally reaching the bar, he whispered to the bar attendant and he jabbed his finger towards the back. Pushing the hanging cloth which served as the door, he slid inside to find a man slumped over a table dead drunk. Sighing, he threw his fist on the table with a loud thunk, shocking the man awake.

"Ugh… What, what?"

"Wake up Johnny. I don't have much time." The supposed 'old' man suddenly emitted a rather odd youthful chuckle.

"Huh? GOOD LORD REED! How can you bring a CHILD here, of all places!!!" Johnny yelped, pointing to the bundle in Reed's arms.

"Keep your volume down Johnny. I need a favour from you." Clow Reed was tempted to slap his good friend for yelling so loud.

"Relax Reed, with all the patrons making such a racket out there I seriously doubt anyone heard my yell. Now what is this favour you need?"

"I need you to help me take care of this child-"

"NO WAY REED! Look at my establishment! I am not keeping a child here or raising one! Do I look like a bloody FATHER to you?" Johnny roared in Reed's face.

"You didn't let me finish my friend. I need you to help me find a family or you yourself to take care of this child."

Calming down, Johnny rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Care to tell me first why you brought a child to me? I would guess that he's special."

"We'll have plenty of time to talk about that later. Right now I need to go and settle things with him. Don't be so surprised Johnny, you of all people should have expected it." Reed cast his eyes low as he gently jostled the baby.

"I knew your time of peace lasted too long to be true." Johnny buried his head in his hands. "Very well give me the child. I shall take care of him and he will always have a job here in my place."

"I do hope you will give the child an appropriate job Johnny. Do not worry I shall lead the battle far away from here so that you won't be affected." Clow Reed stood up passing the bundle over to Johnny who started cooing at the baby. "I shall take my leave now Johnny, hopefully I shall see you in a few days."

"Good luck Reed."

"Take care of her Johnny." And with that Clow Reed left the room.

"It's a HER?!"

-

Johnny knew not to hope that Reed would be back in simply 'a few days'. He kept the child for about half a year, where mostly the women in the brothel part of the tavern-cum-bar took care of the child. But Johnny was not as dense as he seemed, he knew this was not the type of environment Reed wanted the child to be in. If Reed was the one who had given him the child, he would have to take care of her with the best he had to offer. So grudgingly he made his way to a house in the middle of the night, leaving the bartender in charge of the establishment.

'What was I thinking? I should have found her a family right after Reed passed her on to me.' He thought angrily to himself as he tapped on a wooden door briskly.

"Oh hey Johnny. What are you doing up so late?" a kindly looking man greeted him warmly, "Please come in."

"I should ask you the same thing Aiden." Johnny chuckled as the light fell upon the baby's sleeping face.

"That is a beautiful baby girl Johnny. One of the girl's?" Fujitaka Aiden Avalon smiled, closing the door behind Johnny.

"No and how come everyone can tell it's a girl BUT me? It's not mine either!" he added quickly when Fujitaka passed him a questioning look.

"If you say so, can I offer you a drink?" he asked making his way to the kitchen.

"No no. Look Fujitaka I have to make this quick. Can you help me take care of this child?"

Briefly Fujitaka stared at Johnny before bursting into laughter. "You're joking with me right Johnny! That was a good one! With that serious expression and that look in your eyes, I was so close to believing you!"

But Johnny's face still held that stony expression which he warily guarded Fujitaka with. "I. Am. Not. Joking." He punched each word with a serious tone. "I really need your help Fujitaka. I just don't know how to raise a child! And I'm not that dense to raise her in my-"

"Brothel?" Fujitaka lifted an eyebrow.

"I was going to say tavern, but unfortunately you're right as well I do run a brothel in it. I'm grateful for the help that the girls have given me so far but I cannot and do not want them to bring up a child." Johnny frowned hitting his fist on the table which caused him to withdraw his hand with a painful expression on his face.

"That wasn't the smartest thing to do. In fact it shows me exactly why you aren't the best father in the world."

"Oh and you are? So how about it Aiden? Will you help me or not?"

"You know how I hate it when people call me by my middle name. It reminds me so much of my father." He cringed slightly.

"Sorry AVALON. But will you help me? You do know you are one of the few men I trust other than Reed."

"Wait a second, is this Reed's child?" his eyes widened suddenly as he eyed the child with new found interest.

"Not his child, but of course thanks to your intuition the child was passed to me by Reed. He asked me to find a home for her, to take care of her. And I know Fujitaka that you are the right man for the job." He placed the bundle down on the table and walked towads the door.

"What is her name?" Fujitaka, embraced the child with a sigh.

"I haven't given her one. In fact, I would like you to be the one to name her." Johnny chuckled as he shut the door behind him.

Fujitaka looked at the baby girl. 'Let me think. A girl's name… I know how about Natasha! After her grandmother! That seems like a great idea!' the his eyes fell upon his wife's framed picture. 'Nadeshiko… If you had a baby girl what would you have called her?'

Then he laughed out loud "Oh yes Nadeshiko, you would have called her…"

"Sakura."

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Too short? Want more? REVIEW!! Thank you all:) 

Arianla


	2. Dear Diary

Sakura Avalon's Diary

Dated 14th Day Of The Fourth Month

Dear Diary

This was one of my gifts from an anonymous benefactor. I guess I always did want to start a diary but I never got around to actually doing it. Something exciting happened today dear diary so let me start from the beginning! Today's my birthday and Johnny gave me the day off! That was so sweet of him, but I wanted to help out anyway. So I helped out at the bar for awhile, and everyone even the girls and Touya was nicer than usual. I stayed like till about say noon? I would think so as the sun was pretty high around that time. I went into town and I could swear that Touya must have blabbed that it was my birthday or something because everyone was giving me tons of birthday greetings! I was blushing I swear, especially when this completely suave stranger came up to me. He had the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever EVER(let me capitalise this for emphasis) seen. I swear, they stare deep into your soul! But it was kind of surprising and embarassing when he came up and kissed my hand! Yes just to let you know Diary, I'm actually squealing now! It's not everyday such a good looking gentleman comes up to you and do that. I swear I wish everyday was my birthday if he would do that every time it was my birthday! Oh no Sakura! Snap out of it! You're behaving exactly like those airheads that you despise! 

But anyway he kissed my hand and wished me a Happy Birthday. I could swear, I was getting green eyed stares from every female at the town square when he did that. Then from out of nowhere he presented me with two finely wrapped parcels, one slightly smaller than the other. He gave me instructions about them though he said in that suave voice of his, "Open the large parcel only when you're alone, Sakura." You could imagine how suprised I was that he knew my name! But before I could question him, he had melted into the crowd. That's right, he was gone in a flash! I had no idea who he was but of course I have no doubts that our paths would cross again. And soon I could only hope. 

So I carried the parcels around, and I confess that I felt that the larger parcel felt icy cold at times. But I waved it off as my imagination. After all, parcels couldn't change temperature now could they? Or so I thought. After I walked around town, I ended up ladden with stuff like loaves, baskets of fruits some meat and fish as well as a birthday cake courtesy of the kind people in town. The tailer offered to make me a dress but I turned him down politely; I had no need for frills. But I did ask for a new apron though. My arm is seriously aching now, gosh I didn't know I wrote so much! But I just can't help it, I must pen down what happened! So I struggled home, juggling all my birthday gifts. All I can say is that our larder will certainly be full for the next month or so.

I nearly forgot about the gifts that the suave stranger had given me, it was then I decided he would be labelled as Mr. Suave in my mind. So I opened Mr Suave's smaller parcel. I had the habit of slowly unwrapping presents, which was why Touya never liked sticking round to watch me unwrap my presents when I was younger. According to him I 'wasted valuable time' and that 'it's only paper'. Of course his snide remark that really made me hit him was that 'he was suprised that a monster was so careful'. I just appreciate the effort gone into wrapping a gift alright? And this gift was from Mr. Suave so I just happened to be twice as careful. The first parcel was you dear diary! Just to let you know, you're this rusty red colour and my name is engraved in gold on your cover. You are certainly grand!

The other parcel was another book. It felt dreadfully cold to the touch. I hesitated opening the book, but I did so anyway. Oddly, the book didn't have proper pages at all. The space where the pages were suppose to be had been cut in and they were filled with cards. Many cards, judging by the thickness of the book. I picked up the first card and read it aloud. Apparently, that was a big mistake. As soon as I read the word "Windy.", a great gust of wind whipped up and started tearing the room apart. All I could do was struggle to keep my feet on the ground as I clutched the book and the card tightly.

Eventually the wind died down and when I looked around, I was pretty horrified to see my room in a terrible mess. It would take forever to clean up the mess the card had made. I frowned at it, then I noticed that about half the cards had disappeared. It was then I realised what power I had unleashed to the world. If by just saying the word 'Windy' I created a tornado, albeit a small one, I couldn't even imagine the power of the other cards. So I decided that the only safe thing was to do was to lock up the book. Just as I was going to close the book, this weird looking plushie- okay Kero says not to describe him as weird, I can't stop him from peeking at my diary- rises from the cover of the book. Apparently, Kero the plushie was suppose to be the guardian of the cards, most which were gone.

_hello diary! I have no idea why Sakura would even greet a wad of paper bu-_

Ugh! Kero was so rude to snatch the quill from me! This is suppose to be MY diary! Afterall it doesn't say Sakura AND KERO on the cover does it? Kero tried writing on the cover, but he couldn't! Which makes me feel quite relieved actually. But I guess Mr. Suave put some spell on the cover. To be honest, I thought magic died out a few decades ago or never existed. Kero says it's pretty insulting to say that, especially since he's a magical creature created by some guy called Clow Reed. Seeing is believing, so I hope I get to meet this Clow Reed person. OH MY, what if MR. SUAVE IS CLOW REED! That would be so cool! He's so handsome and he knows magic! That's just so cool! AHHH! Oh no Sakura you're gushing again! But could it be I wonder? I did describe him to Kero and Kero didn't recognise him from my description.

According to Kero, for now my priority is to get the rest of the missing cards back. So of course you could imagine how I blanched at the idea. I already had my job at the bar, I didn't need more work! But when he pointed out that I did summon the card Windy, so therefore it was my fault that most of the cards were gone, I had no choice but agree to be the 'Cardmistress' The only thing I can say about this is 'GUH-REAT! MORE WORK.' he said this chant and now, I am able to change a key to a pink birdshaped staff. Kero says I should keep it safe with me so I keep it on a chain around my neck. Kero's nagging at me to switch off the lights and go to sleep. He's probably right, at least, I think he's a he, he hates it that I call him an IT. Good night dear diary, my life has certainly changed on my not so average birthday.

Dated 17th Day Of The Fourth Month

Dear Diary

You would never believe where I am right now. But you know what, I'm just going to pen it down! I'm in this huge GIANORMUS castle! I'm not kidding at all, heck I didn't even know there were still castles owned by Lords and Ladies! In my case, I'm in one owned by a LORD. And you'd never guess who he is. HE'S MR. SUAVE! But now he has a name, he's Lord Eriol Hiiragazwa. How did I get here? It's a long story which I am fully prepared to pen down.

I reported for work at the bar as usual, at around lunchtime in the thick of the hustle and bustle, Mr. Hiiragazwa entered the pub. Of course every other serving girl and whore spotted him immediately and started to flirt and fawn over him. It took every ounce of will power I had not to join them though I admit now that I really really wanted to. As they paid attention to only him, I could feel his gaze on the small of my back. I turned to meet the blue eyes that I had so admired at our last meeting, only to see that he had already started walking up the stairs. I could only express my disappointment by throwing the wet towel in my hand directly at Touya. It hit him straight in the face thanks to my deadly accurate aim. Touya was forced to swallow his anger behind the bar, I could tell he was boiling with rage though.

After quite long while Mr. Suave came down with Johnny who barked at the girls to go back to work. Then he grabbed me pretty roughly and dragged me out of the bar. Mr Suave was beaming kindly at me, which unnerved me instead of melting my heart. When I told Johnny his grip was hurting me, he quickly let go nervously. After pacing up and down he finally revealed something astonishing that angered me at first "Sakura, I've sold your contract to Lord Hiiragazwa." I yelled my disbelief of course, but he shushed me then explained "The only reason I sold your contract to him was because he said he'd provide for your education. You're a smart girl Sakura, I'm sure you'll benefit from this more than any other girl in there." he jabbed towards the bar to indicat his meaning. Wow, Johnny thought I was smart! Hey what am I thinking! Of course I'm smart! Anyway I agreed because I trusted Johnny, and yes the fact that my master was seriously very good looking didn't hurt either. 

So licketysplit I was pushed into a grand looking carriage along with Lord Hiiragazwa. As I waved goodbye to Johnny and Touya, who was being restrained by a few men, I noticed the dirty looks that the other girls were giving me. So I gave them a cheeky look before turning back to Lord Hiiragazwa. When I was in the carriage, Lord hiiragazwa told me that I would be the personal maid- which thrilled me at first untill he added that- to another person. I could only mask my diasppointment. It just would not do to show my emotions infront of the master. My duties included general cleaning, assisting the other Lord in anyway he saw fit. Lord Hiiragazwa assured me that I would come to no harm with my new master, for he was a scoundrel, yet a respectable scoundrel. Lessons would be conducted both by him and my master whenever appropriate. I questioned his term of 'appropriate' but he only smiled mysteriously and told me I would know when the appropriate time would be.

The carriage ride was about half an hour and I was to know that the carriage had been purposely instructed to go slow so that Lord Hiiragazwa could explain somethings to me. As the carriage went through the gates and finally stopped, I found myself staring agape at the sight before me. it was a CASTLE. A GIANORMOUS one to be correct. Yes dear diary, I had rudely left my lower jaw hanging in the presence of my master and he had noticed it. "Cosy little thing isn't it?" Cosy little thing? I should say not! The very castle I'm in now was too impressive for I had never seen anything like it! Like the true gentleman that he was, he gave me his arm and I was given the tour of the castle which resulted in the aching feet that I currently am nursing. Lord Hiiragazwa showed me my working quarters and my living quarters. I also met the Housekeeper Tomoyo. She's really nice and I can only hope that the rest of the staff are like her. The castle's so big that I barely see any others walking about. 

Tomoyo was the one who gave me my working clothes. They were the oddest things I had ever seen for clothing. Tomoyo called them 'Overalls' and according to her, they were really practical. However I opted for the sterotyped maid's outfit, a black dress that reached my ankles with a white apron wrapped around covering the front of my skirts and the upper part of my body. It was then that I also discovered Tomoyo's hobby of designing, she added a couple of ribbons and white lace to the uniform that made it look quite 'Chic', whatever that meant. But I had to admit it did look really nice indeed. I secretly wear shorts under my outfit for now, the skirt tends to flare up easily whenever a strong gust blows, and the weather around the castle was very windy indeed.

Right now I don't know much about my other master. Lord Eriol, yup dear diary, I'm allowed to address him as such, said that he would arrive only the next day. Well so far all I know is that he's a scoundrel, a player(that info I got from one of the maids), and that he was a SLOB. Even before he arrived, a huge mess awaited me at his workroom. Piles of books were stacked dangerously high and unstablem papers strewn all over the floor, and there were dirty plates at random parts of the room. One of them even had mould on it! I was thoroughly disgusted, but I decided it was best if I cleared up the mess before he came back. It took me roughly three hours to clear it up and I was exhausted after that! I'm surprised I've managed to stay awake long enough to finish this post. The quill is making my hand ache! The room I've been given, might I add, is quite posh for the hired help, turns out my room's connected to my unknown master so that he can summon me whenever necessary. I just had a sudden thought, where had Kero gone to? He's been missing since I moved to this castle and yes dear diary I did bring that dangerous book along. I don't know why I decided to bring it along but who cares, I'm awfully tired now...

The quill rolls off the bed and sinks slowly to the floor.

Li Syaoran's Journal

Dated 17th Day of The Fourth Month

Once again Eriol had sent me on one of his ridiculous errands, if he wasn't possibly the only true friend I ever had, well other than Mei Lin but she's family, I wouldn't put up with his crazy requests. Though I must admit I never came back without learning something from these crazy errands. The ride back to our castle is a long one, therefore I decided to go back by carriage instead of the usual horseback. I had alot on my mind and it was only right that I used that time to ponder whatsoever that bothered me.

Despite the fact that Eriol was my oldest, truest and sneakiest friend, I always had a feeling he always kept tiny yet important details from me. He was like a regular Tom Sawyer at times. These details caused me to do stupid things that sometimes could be prevented by the use of mere common sense. His inability for any compassion towards my fiascos was maddening. But Eriol is a powerful person, he alone expanded the little power I had received as the result of being a descendant of Clow Reed. True I am the only direct descendant currently, I was the pride of the Li clan. Note that I write the word clan, not family.

Intimacy was dismissed as weakness in the Li clan, we were taught to harden both our hearts and minds. Even I knew that my parents were cold blooded by nature, they never showed any emotion, when I cried as a child, I was slapped. That's how harsh they were. They trained me to be devoid of emotion. To them I needed to be strong, proud and disciplined. Pride of being a Li was punched into me. It's thanks to Eriol that I never becamed the cold blooded sorcerer that my family had trained me to be. I fled the country, took a ship in the dead of the night and Eriol appened to be the doctor on board. It was he who stayed faithful to me during the mutiny and it was him who saved us when we were starving and going mad. Of course he failed to mention his great wealth before all of this...

Eriol took me in and trained me at first to be his apprentice in business, then he started training what was left of my magic which he told me would die without use. Now I consider myself a competent sorcerer and an efficient business man. I admit, I enjoy expanding Eriol's wealth and the castle as well. I believe we live in better conditions than some royalty thanks to me. Eriol's become a tad lazy, he's left nearly all the business ventures to me. I suppose because he knows I enjoy such things. But when I return to the castle, I intend on polishing up my magic.

So odd I feel, writing all of this down in a Journal I never had any intention of using. But since Eriol gave me this rusty red Journal, I might as well make good use of it. If I had known the carriage ride would be this long, I might actually have considered horseback for all my travels.

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I know I know, Sakura can be kind of bimbotic at times, forgive me dear readers. And I know I used the term 'I swear' too much as well... Oh I can only hope to do better next time! Stay tuned!

P.S. My internet's finallyup and runningafter a month, so expect quicker updates:)


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